American Horror Story – My Roanoke Nightmare: “Chapter 6”

* For a review of Chapter 5, click here.
* For a review of Chapter 7, click here.After the success of My Roanoke Nightmare, Sidney James (Cheyenne Jackson) is ready to pump out another documentary, except this time without the re-enactments— Return to Roanoke: 3 Days in Hell. So now, it’s a hidden camera reality show, put in that house once more. With all the actors, alongside the real Matt (André Holland) and Shelby Miller (Lily Rabe), as well as Matt’s sister Lee (Adina Porter).
Problem is Shelby doesn’t want to be a part of the show. And to be honest, putting everybody in that house again, particularly with the Blood Moon going on, is asking for a blood bath.Sidney gets back to talk with Shelby, whose involvement with the show has produced lots of negative backlash. Hatchets in the front door. Terrible online messages. Matt and Shelby aren’t together anymore, either. She even hooked up with Dominic Banks (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to put the nail in that coffin. Now, she seems eager to go back to Roanoke. Simply to be in the same space as Matt, to try and work things out. Yeah, that’s going to go swell.
When things are getting geared up at the house, you can see how bad things are about to get, as Sidney has people putting together scares to purposefully freak out their cast. They’re about to get into some dangerous territory. Oh, and somebody left a circle of pig fetuses for them to find.
We also see Agnes Mary Winstead (Kathy Bates) talking about her “role of a lifetime” as Thomasin ‘The Butcher’ White. People raved over her, loved by horror fans obsessing over My Roanoke Nightmare. Agnes had a tough time though, it wasn’t all stars. It took a toll – she went mad on the streets with a butcher’s knife, getting locked up in a psych hospital. They diagnosed her as having schizoaffective disorder. Sidney blames her for the fetuses, and further files a restraining order. No Butcher this time around. Just the look on Agnes’ face spells danger. Then she begins spewing mad Thomasin dialogue as Sidney rolls out with a shit-eating grin.
And Lee, she’s having a tough time, as well. People think she murdered her husband. In the court of public opinion, this day and age being the online community, people have decided her guilt. Not to mention the actress that played her, Monet Tumuslime (Angela Bassett), is having alcoholism issues, which makes for insurance trouble.At the Roanoke house one of the crew cuts his own head off with a chainsaw. Rather than give people time off, he opts to keep the production going. Similar to how I imagine people in the reality television business actually slither along the earth like fucking reptiles. The only one with integrity is his right hand woman, Diana (Shannon Lucio). Only she tries to leave, but Pig Man pops up to kill her.
Audrey Tindall (Sarah Paulson) is happily back, having played Shelby previously. She’s British, too! Fun. We get bits of footage from the production, behind-the-scenes stuff, which serves well to make the whole thing feel genuine. Turns out she’s now with Rory Monahan (Evan Peters), the guy who played Edward Mott. There’s even footage from their wedding videos.
Everybody’s moving back into the house. Although Rory’s been asked to head back home for an audition. Before he does, Agnes turns up and smashes a window, frightening them. But in the meantime, Shelby, Monet, Sidney and the gang arrive. Furthermore, we discover that Audrey had problems with Agnes, previously nearly being attacked by her during that schizoaffective break awhile back. When Matt and Lee get in, things get awkward. Tensions between people are already flaring up. Sidney tries to shove Lee and Shelby into a bed together, which blows Lee over the edge and the three of them are at each others throats.
What’s most interesting is how we’ve got two sets of people together – believers and non-believers. Matt and Shelby know the truth of what’s happened in and around the house, even Lee. Yet Audrey, Rory, Monet, they don’t know the real story, though they’re about to find out.Then we’re told that over the three days of the Blood Moon, everybody except one solitary person died. Wow. Wow. Love this statement, as it sets up plenty anticipation.
Everybody settles in. Monet brought her own booze to drink. Outside, Rory and Audrey soak in the hot tub. Things are going normally, y’know. Downstairs, Shelby tries to make amends with Matt; he’s worried they won’t “survive” this stay at the house. Nothing gets any better when Dominic walks in the door, as Matt attacks him full force.
Meanwhile, out in the darkness glow the fire of torches. Something is coming.
After a show Audrey sees the Pig Man behind her. She, of course, only thinks it was someone being sent in to get a scare going, but we know the difference, right? When Rory goes to try finding the culprit, those two dead, naughty nurses appear to stab him repeatedly. Doesn’t help that Matt, using his cellphone to record, sees MURDER still written on the wall in blood. Uh. Oh. It’s been finished: “R is for Rory,” Matt tells the group ominously.I dig this episode, an awesome twist to keep things going into the second half of Season 6. I expected this is where it would go, although I dig it and still found the developments exciting. Can’t wait for Chapter 7, hope to see some wild shit.

An Update from Father Gore

Seek & Ye Shall Find

Father Gore is first and foremost a passionate lover of film— especially horror. He's also a Master's student at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a concentration in postmodern critical theory, currently writing a thesis which will be his debut novel of literary fiction, titled Silence. He also used to write for Film Inquiry frequently during 2016-17 and is currently contributing to Scriptophobic in a column called Serial Killer Celluloid focusing on film adaptations about real life murderers. As of September 2018, Father Gore is an official member of the Online Film Critics Society.